How Buildings Learn

Stewart Brand is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. I just finished "Whole Earth Discipline" and will blog about it in the next week. Today I want to write about his 1994 book "How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built."

A building has a lifespan. It starts with design. Then comes construction. After that, habitation. Now the really interesting things happen. As people use the building, it goes through growing pains. People like to change things. A building either welcomes or resists change. This, along with the march of time, causes it to age. Eventually it will be reborn or die. That is what this book is about: the process and progression. People like buildings that are easily adaptable to their needs. People don't like buildings that aren't. That is also what this book is about.

In 1997 the BBC created a six-part, three-hour series based on the book featuring Stewart as the host and narrator. It is as enjoyable as the book itself. Over the next few months I will be posting a lot about buildings, as architecture and simple utilitarian structures have always fascinated me.

This video is the first of six, which I will post sequentially. It is entitled "Flow" and concerns the fluidity with which buildings must adapt (and be adaptable) to be useful and loved. Have a look.